(The following article is based on an interview with Brad Treliving, conducted by the PHPA in August 2007, in celebration of the PHPA’s 40^th Anniversary.) 

On April 28^th, 2014 the Calgary Flames named Brad Treliving as their new General Manager.  He had served as Assistant General Manager for the Phoenix Coyotes for the past seven seasons, and prior to that was the President of the Central Hockey League, in addition to serving as President and Director of Hockey Operations for the Western Professional Hockey League, which he founded in 1996.

However, it was during his five-year professional playing career, predominantly spent in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL), when Treliving would first delve into the management side of the sport, while simultaneously cementing his legacy on the minor hockey landscape.

It was in the early 1990’s when Executive Director of the Professional Hockey Players’ Association, Larry Landon, started receiving a number of alarming phone calls from players in the ECHL, who were concerned with a host of issues they felt the League was ignoring.  “I recall the horror stories, which at the time were hard to believe,” recounts Landon.  “As we received more and more calls, it was apparent these players needed help in the form of a collective voice, which they didn’t have at the time.”

Enter a group of ECHL players, led by Brad Treliving, who approached Landon about the PHPA becoming the certified collective bargaining representative for ECHL players.  At the time, the PHPA represented players in the American Hockey League (AHL) and International Hockey League (IHL).

Requiring approval from AHL and IHL Player Representatives to initiate the process, Landon invited Treliving to the PHPA Annual Meeting of Player Representatives, where after hearing his plea, AHL and IHL Player Reps unanimously approved the effort to unionize ECHL players. 

As Landon began negotiating the first Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with then ECHL Commissioner Rick Adams, he asked the group of Player Representatives that had initially approached him about unionizing the ECHL, including Brad Treliving, to be involved in the negotiation process. 

“I thought it was good timing for me personally, knowing that I was likely going to retire at the end of the season, and I wanted to test my hand in management,” recounts Treliving. 

The input and involvement from the group of ECHL players helped standardize housing, per diem, and included the basic essentials to improve the players’ professional hockey experience.

“Players in the ECHL at the time were excited knowing that the League was unionizing,” said Treliving.  “It was comforting to know that as a player, the PHPA was advancing and protecting our rights.  We now had an ear that would listen to us, and that issues which arose in the past weren’t going to come up again.”

The move was not met without significant resistance though from ECHL Owners and management.  Although Landon had received an overwhelming amount of interest and support from players, the Owners wanted no part of the union.

“I am extremely proud of those ECHL players, who at the time, were threatened to have certain team benefits taken away from them if they voted to unionize,” noted PHPA General Counsel, Ron Jaros who played a significant role in the certification process.  “Larry and I witnessed first-hand what these players had to go through, as a number of ECHL cities were not sympathetic to unions.” 

The PHPA’s persistence to create a better way of life for ECHL players and their families finally paid off after the National Labor Relations Board conducted a formal, secret ballot vote amongst players in each ECHL city.  The end result was an overwhelming response from ECHL players in favor of becoming unionized, with the first PHPA-ECHL CBA finalized in October of 1995. 

“Not many players would have the fortitude, the wherewithal, and willingness to sacrifice their career back then like Brad Treliving did,” said Landon.  “They risked a lot, but nearly 20 years after signing an inaugural CBA with the ECHL, the League and PHPA have built a solid working relationship, enjoyed stable labor relations having signed our sixth CBA in 2013 with a five-year term, and the League has proven to be the primary development system for the American Hockey League, with nearly 550 former players having gone on to play in the NHL to date.”